Robertson v. Board of Supervisors Winston County

51 So. 2d 741, 211 Miss. 800, 1951 Miss. LEXIS 409
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 11, 1951
DocketNo. 38174
StatusPublished

This text of 51 So. 2d 741 (Robertson v. Board of Supervisors Winston County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robertson v. Board of Supervisors Winston County, 51 So. 2d 741, 211 Miss. 800, 1951 Miss. LEXIS 409 (Mich. 1951).

Opinion

Holmes, C.

Appellee has filed and presented a motion to advance this case on the docket of this Court as a preference case. The case on its merits involves an appeal from a decree of the Chancery Court of Winston County, overruling objections to the validation of fifty-four thousand dollars ($54,000) of Winston Consolidated School District Bonds of Winston County, and validating said bonds. Under Section 4314 of the Mississippi Code of 1942, the case is entitled to be heard as a preference case and the motion is therefore sustained, and the case is set for hearing on May 21, 1951. The appellants shall [806]*806file their brief on or before Monday, April 30, 1951, and the appellee shall file its brief on or before Friday, May 11, 1951.

Motion sustained.

PEE CURIAM.

The above is hereby adopted as the decision and action of the Court.

Lee, J.

Against the validation of the bonds of the Winston Consolidated School District in the sum of $54,000, W. E. Robertson and others filed written objections, raising the following questions: (1) The notice of the special meeting of the school board was void. (2) The order issuing the bonds was' without jurisdiction because reference was made to the registration rather than the poll books. (3) The amount of the issue exceeds 15% of the assessed valuation. (4) The board did not determine and describe the boundaries and name the sections and parts of sections. (5) The board did not create one district in its order, but two noncontiguous districts. (6) The districts were gerrymandered in such a way as to leave certain lands of the county out of any school district. (7) The location of the school building was indefinite and void. And (8) the objectors had no opportunity to be heard in the issuance of the bonds. From a final decree overruling the objections and validating the bonds, the objectors appealed.

No consideration is given to original objections (1), (2), and (3), because they are neither assigned nor argued.

On the face of the transcript of the record, it appears that a majority of the qualified electors of the existing Calhoun Consolidated and Central Consolidated School Districts petitioned the school board of Winston County to consolidate the two districts into one, to be known as [807]*807Winston Consolidated School District. The territory to he- embraced was described in minute detail. It was recited that such territory contains more than ten square miles and that authority to transport pupils is granted. It was averred that 480 pupils live in the area, and that the buildings of both districts were dilapidated. There was a prayer for the location of the school building on the EV2 of the NW!i of NE!i of Section 18, Township 13, Range 14, north of the Louisville and DeKalb highway.

Likewise on the face of the record, it appears that subsequently, at a special meeting of the school hoard, at a hearing in which the appellants participated, the hoard adjudicated that a majority of the qualified electors of each of said districts, in fact, two-thirds of such electors in the whole area, had signed the petition, and that such consolidation of the two districts into one would he for the best interests of all concerned. It further adjudicated that the territory contains more than ten square miles and that authority to transport pupils is granted. Such order consolidated the two schools, created the new district, determined and described the boundaries thereof, named the sections and parts of sections composing such district in minute detail, and named the new district Winston Consolidated School District. It designated the location for the school building’ on the twenty acres, as prayed for in the petition. On the face of the record, there was a full compliance with subsection (b), Section 6274, Code 1942.

On the face of the record, it appears that thereafter, a majority of the qualified electors of the newly created Winston Consolidated School District, in fact, 451 of 469 such electors in the whole area, petitioned the hoard of supervisors of Winston County to issue the bonds of said district in the maximum sum of $54,000 for the lawful purposes therein mentioned, in strict conformity with the law. The order of the board of supervisors adjudicated the existence of all the jurisdictional requisites, issued the bonds, and directed their validation.

[808]*808In the meantime, appellants made no attack against either the creation of the district or the issuance of the bonds.

The proceedings of the school hoard appear to be valid on their face. Under such circumstances, objection (4), therefore, amounts to a collateral attack. We must follow here the announcement by this Court in a like proceeding in Lincoln County v. Wilson, 125 Miss. 837, 88 So. 516, 517, as follows: “Where in a case like this the district for which the bonds are to he issued was organized by one authority, and the bonds issued by another and different authority, under this statute there can be no inquiry into the legality of the formation of the district beyond what the record shows on its face; for that question only arises collaterally. If, therefore, according to the face of the proceedings before the hoard of education there is a valid consolidated school district, that is the end of the inquiry. It is inconceivable that the Legislature intended by this bond validation statute to open up for review by the chancery court not only the proceedings to issue bonds had by the authority issuing them, but, in addition, the legality of the organization of the district for which the bonds are issued, where the district is organized by one authority and the bonds issued by another. If this were true in a proceeding to validate county or municipal bonds of any character under this statute, the validity of the organization of the county or municipality could be inquired into.” See also Van Zandt et al. v. Town of Braxton, 149 Miss. 461, 115 So. 557; Green v. Sparks, 174 Miss. 71, 163 So. 895; Hawkins v. City of West Point, 200 Miss. 616, 27 So. (2d) 549.

The foregoing rule disposes of objection (4). Tishomingo County School Board v. Crabb et al., 170 Miss. 146, 154 So. 345, has no application whatever.

As to objection (5), the map or plat in the record shows that the Calhoun and Central Districts, prior to their consolidation, had a common boundary line [809]*809between them for 6.5 miles. That fact renders such objection untenable.

Objection (6) has no support because the proof shows that the omission of any land in the county from a school district can, in no way, be attributed to this consolidation. Consequently, Myers et al. v. Board of Supervisors, 156 Miss. 251, 125 So. 718, is not in point.

This brings us to a consideration of objection (7), namely, whether or not the designation of the location of the school building' on the twenty acres of land is void.

Subsection (b), Section 6274, supra, makes it the duty of the school board “to designate the location for a school building.” Now, it was held in the case of Board of Supervisors v. Brown, 146 Miss. 56, 110 So. 831, that the location of the schoolhouse must be made before an election can be held for the issuance of bonds of the district. In that instance, the board failed to designate such location.

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Related

In Re Savannah Special Consolidated School District
44 So. 2d 545 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1950)
Parnell v. Trustees of Orange Lake Consolidated School District
127 So. 280 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1930)
Board of Sup'rs v. Brown
111 So. 831 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1927)
Tishomingo County School Board v. Crabb
154 So. 345 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1934)
Myers v. Board of Sup'rs.
125 So. 718 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1930)
Nicholas v. Calhoun
37 So. 2d 313 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1948)
Board of Supervisors v. Stephenson
134 So. 142 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1931)
Hawkins v. City of West Point
27 So. 2d 549 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1946)
Von Zondt v. Town of Braxton
115 So. 557 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1928)
Green v. Sparks
163 So. 895 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1935)
Lincoln County v. Wilson
88 So. 516 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1921)

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Bluebook (online)
51 So. 2d 741, 211 Miss. 800, 1951 Miss. LEXIS 409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robertson-v-board-of-supervisors-winston-county-miss-1951.